Development: Wraith Class Stealth Armor

[Eugen Aker]

Original Submission:

Spoiler

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Image Source: http://pd-black-drag...esign-454654809
Intent: Advanced Stealth Armour for the Republic's 228th Black Operations Division
Development Thread: None
Manufacturer: The Galactic Republic
Model: Wraith Class Stealth Armour
Affiliation: The Galactic Republic's 228th Black Operations Division
Modularity: No
Production: Limited
Material: Stygian-triprismatic polymer plates, black bodysuit beneith
Classification: Stealth
Weight: 12 kg
Quality: 6, decent defense, but not made for straight up fights
Special Features: Advanced Stealth Field Generator, Night and Thermal Vision, Binoculars attached to helmet, Advanced sensors.
Description:
When Thoja Arlos took command of the 228th Black Operations Division, he noticed the lack of specialist equipment, mainly in the armour department. He voiced his concern to Republic R&D, and they in turn created a new armour for the Division. The Wraith Class Stealth Armour is constructed of Stygian-triprismatic polymer plates, the same material used to construct the armour of the Imperial Shadow stormtroops. The armour incorporates a advanced stealth field generator that conceals the user for a limited time. The armour also comes equipped with Night and Thermal vision, which can be changed on the fly. Binoculars on the helmet allow for long range reconnaissance, whilst advanced sensors allow for the tracking of targets. The armour is also relatively flexible, allowing for increased movemtn from the wearer. The armour isn't without faults. Due to the amount of advanced equipment, the amour is extremely expensive to produce, and only distributed to those in the 228th. Also, the stealth field generator can only be active for 10 minutes, and takes an hour to recharge. The stealth field generator also has a tendency to malfunction, either deactivating mid stealth, or not activating at all. Because of all its abilities, and the cost of production, there are only 75 suits available, and all are held by the Republic.

Kiribian Systems Armory Headquarters, Izrul, Kiribi

The R&D Department of the Republic military had been in the process on developing a custom armor set for special operations unit with a great need for a stealthy solution, but they had hit a roadblock in its development. The particular stealth system they had developed with the armor had proven to be faulty, unreliable in its activation even under clear weather conditions. The design of the power plant for the whole system was so poor that the stealth field couldn't be sustained for more than a few minutes.

R&D had something on their hands with their prototype, but the whole system was going to require a major overhaul to increase its reliability in the field.

As this was an important order for a Republic unit, Ala Crescent, the Director of Special Projects at Kiribian Systems Armory, would head up the development herself. She wanted to impress to open up some doors for KSA with the Galactic Republic for much bigger projects.

 

[Eugen Aker]

First, Ala began with the bodyglove, which she considered the foundation of the whole system. Having fancy stealth fields and other gizmos were fine, but she was a strong proponent for ergonomics and comfort. The body glove itself could stand to offer a much more protection.

She crafted the innermost layer with soft synthetic microfibers designed to wick sweat away. As it was synthetic, the material was hypoallergenic and resistant to bacterial and fungal growths. The gel layer came next which would insulate the wearer against extreme temperature variances. The gel also acted as a shock absorber against concussive force, and sonic waves.

Next came the protective layer. It consisted of dozens of individual sheets of flexible carbon nano tube suspended in a shear thickening fluid. Alone, sheets of carbon nano tubes were just a durable as a standard set of armor weave crafted from durasteel, but with addition of the shear thickening fluid, the sheets could temporarily harden into a solid patch of armor when struck at high impact, giving added support to the outer plates of armor. The high melting point of the carbon nanotubes made them effective defense against directed energy weapons like blasters.

All this would be topped off by final layer of vantablack, a synthetic light absorbing material that appeared to be "darker than black" because of said property. It gave off virtually no reflection, making any object shrouded in vantablack appear without a clear definition or silhouette. A very useful quality for a user attempting to be stealthy.

When all was said and done, Ala had constructed a comfortable and durable suit of light armor that would serve as an effective defense on its own. Her clients of clandestine operatives would be able to wear the improved body glove alone under a normal set of clothes in scenarios of undercover operations.

 

[Eugen Aker]

With the bodyglove rework complete, Ala moved onto the armor component. As with the bodyglove, it would be a composite build of several layers offering different features. The foundation of the armor plating began with sheets of carbon ceramic, with some padding on the backside where appropriate. (She figured there would probably need to be adjustments here as she called in the commandos for the testing stage.) To address the issue of power draw of the stealth system, she increased total power capacity by installing molded cells of graphene batteries all along the surface area of the back plating. A series of outlets would be constructed in the chest piece and gauntlets to allow easy recharging from common power sockets.

The toughness of graphene meant the battery cells acted another layer of armor. She covered the cells up with a thin layer of insulation to prevent an accidental discharge to the upper layers.

Now it was finally onto the stealthy bits. Even with the increased power capacity, any use of a stealth field was still going to be a massive drain. She devised a low powered option that would still afford the commandos a great deal of stealthiness when the use of an active stealth field wasn't absolutely necessary. Her system was a form of active camouflage that utilized flexible displays of electronic ink capable of changing colors and patterns to blend in with surroundings. Strips of photo-receptors covering the armor would take in the surroundings, and a processor unit would analyze the data to create an appropriate camo pattern. The process would be completely automated by default, but users would have the option to select from premade profiles, or create their own.

Above the ACS layer, would be a protective coating of blast resistant transparisteel. She had a plan to embed a lattice of stygium crystals into the transparisteel. As a passive system, the lattice would serve to reduce the armor's electromagnetic signature, making it much harder to track by non-visual means like infrared or radar.

KSA currently possessed no stygium crystals in the quantities necessary for production, so Ala would start shopping around for a supplier.

 

[Eugen Aker]

After she conducted some research, she discovered Sasori to have what she needed. They had exactly what she needed in the form of a special coating composed of stygium crystals. The original notes called for it to be applied over armor, but she could easily sandwich a lattice of these crystals between sheets of conductive transparisteel to protect the stygium. She contacted a representative from Sasori to make an order.

In the meantime, as she awaited a response, she went ahead and put together a couple prototype units for testing. The suits contained all almost all the original features of the original provided by the 228th, including the original cloaking device. The stealth generators could be later revised, but the point of adding them on now was to test the power efficiency of the suit against a previously established baseline.

When the suits were prepared, she called upon members of the 228th to join her onKiribi to make the first series of tests, then she would make revisions as needed based upon their input.

[member="Thoja Arlos"]
[member="Ayumi Pallopides"]

 

[Ayumi Pallopides]

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

Ayumi was looking over some of the paperwork they had going from the company. Allowing a few notes to come her way as she looked over parts of it all. They had been working on upgrades to the standard bodyarmor the company created now and the materials she was looking over how best to lay them out and into it. Ten layers of protections delicately weaved and built so the bodygloves were armored yet accessible for putting armored plates over to increase their protection. She was even looking at the processes that came from Klantooine thanks to some other friends in the senate. Outposts there allowed them some special materials for the armor to make the uppermost layer of the bodyglove and it would all add some weight but the power armor of it would come in handy for handling such a thing. She looked over the design more when the message came through and Ayumi raised an eyebrow but bowed her head. Getting a moment to sit and look. "Thank you for the interest senator, we will gladly work with you to get what you need. Just say how much for testing and prototyping purposes."

 

[Eugen Aker]

[member="Ayumi Pallopides"]

Fortunately, she received a swift response to her inquiry, from Ayumi Pallopidas. A quick background check identified the woman as a Republic Senator. Very interesting, that was nice contact to have for future endeavors.

In her office, she brought Senator Pallopides up on a holo projector in her office to speak. Her system was a sophisticated one, able to display full sized figures (within limits) in full color at ultra resolution. Paired with an advanced surround system, it made for an immersive experience that sometimes lulled users into thinking they were speaking with the real deal.

"Hello Senator, I'm Ala Crescent, director of special projects here at KSA. About the coating, I'll need enough of it to cover production of suits for a company sized unit, including enough for maintenance and spare plating. Will you be able to provide? If so, then provide me with an estimate as soon a possible and an ETA on delivery. Ideally, I'd like a supply within the week."

 

[Ayumi Pallopides]

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

Enough for a company of men to work on and spare parts... That was a good and decent sized order while she was working on some of the things. She started working on things and inputting the orders while looking at the microcrystal coating. They were setting it up to be on then as she started running the numbers and providing some discounts. Always better to buy direct and avoid those messy costs as she let the droids crunch the numbers. They would be able to deal easily and with the right equipment in everything she could set up larger deals and contracts. "We will be able to get them out to you quickly, more then enough.: She sent the message with the numbers for payment and orders, their ships thankfully were made for transporting large amounts of cargo. "Is there anything in our catalog you would like to get?"

 

[Thoja Arlos]

Thoja had been at a shooting range when he'd gotten the message that his armour request had been taken up by a company that worked for the Republic. So he hopped onto the first shuttle to Kiribi, and from the spaceport headed to the KSA HQ, to meet with the women in charge of the project. He passed through the building security with ease, and made his way to the directors office. [member="Suravi Teigra"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

"Not at this time, but I would like to collaborate with Sasori on some future projects. Your conglomerate's expertise with Force related technologies would be much appreciated."

Sithwere popping up like daisies all over the galaxy, so the soldiers of Kiribi and the Republic needed to be armed accordingly.

After Sasori had issued an estimate for the materials, money was promptly wired within that same hour. No matter how quickly the funds were transferred, there would still be a wait for the delivery, though hopefully no more than a week for everything. In the meantime, she would still be able to refine the rest of the system independent of the cloaking components.

The next day, she would meet withMr Arlos to begin the refinement process. By the time of his arrival, she would have two experimental suits completed for testing purposes, along with the original prototype provided by the Republic Military.

When Arlos met her in her office, she would open with a customary bow of respect.

"Good day, Miste rArlos. Because of limited stygium supplies, the system isn't quite ready for full production, but we've still come a long way at improving upon the original prototype. Better ergonomics, protection, and reliability."

With a few hand signs, she activated the holo-projector in her system, which came alive with a couple of projections of armor. One was a depiction of the original Republic prototype, while the other was the KSA experimental model in its incomplete state. Both were presented at ultra resolutions at full color, so detailed that they almost looked like they could be touched for real.

"As you see, the Republic model and the KSA share the same basic design, but we've made several enhancements under the hood."

The armor projections would come apart into individual components and layers, showing the real true difference between the models.

"It all starts with a protective suit to replace the standard body glove. Now not only will it protect you against the elements, but also from projectiles, explosives, and directed energy weapons. In lieu of the standard armor weave, we utilized sheets of tough but flexible carbon nanotubes suspended in a dilatant (shear thickening) polymer solution. When struck by at high velocities it will immediately harden in a solid state, acting like traditional armor plating. As for directed energy weapons, the polymer solution and nanotubes are highly conductive, formulated to disperse heat (and vibrations in the case of sonic weapons) across the entire surface area of the suit."

As she spoke about the capabilities of the undersuit, a scene would unfold with a where the projection would be struck with several different kinds of directed energy weapons and projectiles, to survive ever one of them as the suit hardened into armor at impact points.

"The undersuit alone is about as durable as your basic set of trooper armor, but it offers so much more mobility and comfort. They're as about as nice to wear as a set of pajamas."

She smirked just a little as she made that comparison. A hands-on type of engineer, she could confirm that claim herself having donned a set to wear around for testing.

"As for the plating, we've come up with a composite scheme that rivals the likes of more exotic materials like Beskar. Tough carbon ceramics that can take a beating from most types of weapons systems. It's also highly resistant to corrosives, very handy against acid and parasites."

"Now in coming up with the composite scheme, we figured out a couple ways to improve the performance of the cloaking system. One way was to use the shell of the armor to bond molded layers of graphene-based ultracapacitors in place of standard power cells. In this scheme, we have about a 1000% increase in capacity. While the battery layer cannot be swapped out like cells, being graphene-based, it can be fully charged in well under an hour with a decent power supply. We've worked on making a series of adaptive plugs that can work common outlets."

A smaller projection of a soldier in the new armor was shown plugging into a power socket in some regular garage.

"To reduce your reliance on the cloaking system, we've developed an active camouflage system as a low power supplement. With the ACS, you will be able to adjust your camo print on the fly, being continuously optimized in real time to reduce visibility. The ACS only uses a fraction of the power of the cloaking generator, so you can effectively run it for days or weeks depending on the settings."

Another little soldier appeared, walking through a variety of landscapes, having the armor shift colors through each one to nearly disappear into his surroundings.

"All that's left is the cloaking system itself. That system is still a work in progress until I get my hands on enough material to make something good out of it. However, the basic concept will be an integrated solution for low maintenance in the field."

"Any questions so far?"

[member="Thoja Arlos"]
[member="Ayumi Pallopides"]

 

[Thoja Arlos]

Thoja watched the holographic display with increasing interest after each image. The suit had definitely been upgraded from his idea, and these new pieces looked fantastic. He smiled at the final image, it was exactly what he wanted, perhaps even more than that.

"Nope, the suit looks to be better than I expected. I look forward to giving it a test run."

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

 

[Ayumi Pallopides]

Ayumi gave a nod and with all of the credits transferred she could work on most of the things while the delivery was being set up. Her full attention going to the droids to make sure they had all of the crates loaded for the order. She could escort it and work with them while also testing out and showing some of the newer products like she was hoping they would take the toolkit and sheaths for their things. With more work from those to develop them in larger numbers they could start constructing them on more and more armor as basic components to give the soldiers under their command. The work had already gone into getting the armors stronger and keeping them mass production for anyone to be able to use so they needed to get some of the stuff ready.

 

[Eugen Aker]

(([member="Ayumi Pallopides"] After I finish my initial conversation with Thorja, I'm going to have a small time skip to where I finally have the coating in hand.))

"I'm glad you approve of the changes. For the time being, I can rig the original stealth generator to one of these experimental suits. It won't be as good as the new design, but I've managed to solve the issue with random malfunctioning."

With her presentation complete, she flipped off the the holo-projectors, then rose from her seat for the door.

"If you'll follow me, then I'll take you down to the lab. Even if you don't want to begin testing today, I would still like you to see the suit and try it on."

[member="Thoja Arlos"]

 

[Thoja Arlos]

"Lead the way." Thoja responded, as he followed the director to the labs. He was enjoying this a little to much, one might say, but it didn't bother him. The suit he'd dreamed of was coming to life, and soon, the 228th would be the last thing you'll never see.

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

She led Arlos to the elevator at the end of the hall, from where they descended into the subterranean levels deep underground where KSA's more secretive operations were based. Once on the floor, they would pass through biometric scanner, and a decontamination gate. The sensors used for both systems were sensitive enough to detect abnormalities within a person when compared against an extensive database of physiological profiles.

From there, they had to navigate through a bit of a maze of self contained labs until they came upon her own. Inside were some technicians working on the suits, making some tweaks here and there. When Crescent entered, they all gave her a greeting, but quickly resumed their work. When it came to her lab, it was a fairly relaxed atmosphere that prioritized performance over pomp.

"As you can see, we have two complete experimental units, and the original prototype. There's a private room to the left where you can change into the gear. I'd like to use this as an opportunity to gauge the ergonomics and the ease of slipping on the the whole suit, so please don't hesitate to give me an honest assessment after you've finished changing. This is the best time to make any tweaks before full production."

The suits were all mounted on a repulsor bed tilted upright, so all that had to be done was for one of the techs to cart it into the room ahead of Arlos. Then they left him alone to do his thing.

[member="Thoja Arlos"]

 

[Thoja Arlos]

He walked into the room to get change (Fade to black...). When he emerged, he was wearing the original prototype given to him. The suit felt good for the most part, however he could see why the bodyglove had been changed, as it would become uncomfortable to wear after long periods of time. Arlos then started to walk around, getting a feel for the weight of the armour.

"This feels alright, but I understand why changes needed to be made from the very beginning."

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

"Alright, if there are no problems, then how do you feel about going for a spin through the danger room right now? It's our resident testing ground. Seeing you in action will give me a good feel on whether or not more adjustments are required at this juncture."

The 'danger room' was an internal obstacle course used by KSA to test classified projects in the experimental stages. It consisted of a mix of adjustable environmental tiles, advanced holo-projectors, and a VR feedback mechanism to create realistic conditions for testing. While it would never quite top the experience of live combat, the danger room was perhaps the closest thing KSA had to emulating the experience in a safe manner. Not to say one wouldn't come out of the experience smarting.

[member="Thoja Arlos"]

 

[Thoja Arlos]

"I'm sure that's the only reason you want to see me in action." Thoja replied with a smirk as he followed her to the so called 'danger zone'. Once there, he turned to face her. "So what exactly will I be doing in this course?"

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

[member="Thoja Arlos"]

"Trying not to get caught." she quipped with a smile. "The first scenario will be a be a night rescue operation. A single downed pilot being held at a small detention facility. At the start of the scenario, you will be in a forest, which you will need to traverse to reach the compound where the hostage is being held. The detention facility is situated at the center of a small air base. Expect patrols throughout the course of the scenarios. Detection will not result in automatic failure, but alerted opposition will make achieving your objective much more difficult."

She knew intelligence briefings were meant to be a lot more thorough than what she provided, but she really wanted to challenge Arlos in the new prototype by withholding information.

"There's an armory down by the danger room. The armory possesses every weapon and piece of equipment available to the Republic military, and beyond. I trust you'll be able to emulate your usual loadout for these types of things."

"I'll have one of my techs take you down to the Danger Room, while I monitor you from here and work on some tweaks. If you need anything of me, you will be able to contact me directly from your comm system, or our holo-comm system."

"Marlene," she called out. "Can you show Mr. Arlos to the armory and Danger Room?"
A short blonde turned away from her terminal as her name was called, then she stood up collect Arlos.

"Sure, Ala. Sir, would you follow me this way?"

---------

While the Republic commando began to undergo various trials over the week, she began work on the cloaking layer as soon she had received the special coating from Sasori. From the way the compound had been produced, apparently she only needed to apply a current to the stuff for activation. In initial tests, she applied the coating between panes of transpirasteel. It worked like a charm, but that wasn't the end of it.

Next came stress tests, purposely damaging the panes to see how much stress they could withstand before the cloak would fail, toying with variances in the thickness of the panes and the amount of coating. What she found was that the panels would still work after sustaining damage, but the visual cloak would fail along fractures. The mechanics of the system made it especially vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses and ion collisions.

In her last round of tests, she tried the cloaking panes out in tandem with the ACS. It didn't fare too well, as even in a passive state, the cloaking layer interfered with the ACS sensors ability to analyze their surroundings. Thinning out the coating improved the performance of the ACS, but then it left the cloaking layer itself more vulnerable to failure. She would have to strike a careful balance in order to find that sweet spot.

((I will be continuing development parallel to the danger room scenarios so that I can finally get this done for you.))

 

[Eugen Aker]

With some more trials, Ala finally came on a suitable balance that would allow both systems to work well. However, the vulnerabilities she had discovered with the cloaking layer were still bugging her. It wasn't durable enough for her tastes. She decided to come up with an alternate scheme, contacting Pallopides again to acquire another stealth system from the Sasori catalog: The Odominous Unit. It was a highly effective system, a little too effective, as it interfered with the operation of the onboard sensors. She had initially steered away from it because of that fact, but she imagined with some modifications, it would be fine to use.

"I'd like to make another order with Sasori for a supply of Odominous Units, 400 kits."

[member="Ayumi Pallopides"]

 

[Ayumi Pallopides]

[member="Suravi Teigra"]

Ayumi was arriving and hearing what was wanted in the order she authorized it while selecting some of the things. She was coming to work with the woman before looking over a few of the details on her datapad when she arrived sliding the duster on over her outfit. The design was great and she wished they could have a series of them for the Republic soldiers. A way to resist heavily the force being directed at them, but a few senators that could work with it before she moved. Arriving with the crates for what was ordered and ringing a few of the prototypes before they were set to be made into production equipment or some of the lesser known but invaluable for the field pieces like the glowrods that were nearly infinite use and lightweight, their water creating canteen or the compartments for belts that would give soldiers plenty of space without issue based on the old jedi belt. "Senator thank you for this chance." She spoke when she arrived with a small smile on her face clasping her hands behind her back.